A  PRINTERS' 
SUN   DIAL 


BEING   A   SHORT   DESCRIPTION   OF 

THE    DIAL    RECENTLY    PLACED 

IN    THE   GARDEN   OF  THE 

COUNTRY  LIFE  PRESS 


GARDEN   CITY  NEW  YORK 

DOUBLEDAY,   PAGE  &   CO 
MCMXIII 


JOHN  HENKf  NASH 


J 


A    PRINTERS' 
SUN    DIAL 


EXLIBRIS  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  r/S 


JOHN  HENRY  NASH  LIBRARY 

SAN  FRANCISCO  <8> 

PRESENTED  TO  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

ROBERT  GORDON  SPROUL.  PRESIDENT. 


MR.ANDMRS.MILTON  S.RAY 
CECILY,  VIRGINIA  AND  ROSALYN  RAY 

AND  THE 

RAY  OIL  BURNER  COMPANY 


THE    DIAL 

IN  ITS  "CEDAR  ROOM' 


A   PRINTERS' 
SUN   DIAL 

BEING   A    SHORT    DESCRIPTION    OF 

THE    DIAL    RECENTLY    PLACED 

IN    THE    GARDEN    OF    THE 

COUNTRY  LIFE  PRESS 


.. 


GARDEN    CITY  NEW    YORK 

DOUBLEDAY,    PAGE   &    CO 
MCMX  I  II 


UBRAM 
SCHOOL 


GIFT 


TO    THAT    FAIR    ART 

WHICH    DOTH    ALLOW    MAN*S    MIND 

TO    FIX    ITS    THOUGHT    UPON 

THE    VIRGIN    PAGE 

AND    SO    TRANSMIT    ITSELF 

FROM    AGE    TO    AGE 


570 


A     PRINTERS 
SUN     DIAL 


'  cedar   room ' 


jjjT  the  southerly  end  of 
|  the  garden  of  the  Coun- 
try  Life   Press,   where 
the   path   which   leads 
down  from  the  Italian 
Pool   enters    a   special 
'  —  there    has   recently 
been  placed  a  Sun  Dial. 

It  was  about  February,  1910,  that  a 
representative  of  Messrs.  Doubleday, 
Page  &  Company  called  upon  the 
writer  and  expressed  their  desire  that 
a  table  be  designed  bearing  the  marks 
of  early  printers,  around  which  the 
employees  might  assemble  at  the  noon 
hour,  and,  as  they  rested  and  refreshed 
themselves,  gain  a  little  of  the  inspira- 


A    PRINTERS     SUN    DIAL 

tion  of  the  early  craftsmen  through  the 
contemplation  of  their  marks.  It  was 
finally  decided  that  this  table  should 
be  made  in  the  form  of  a  Sun  Dial  to 
be  placed  in  the  garden. 

In  casting  about  for  a  central  feature 
for  the  Dial  nothing  seemed  so  fitting 
as  an  open  book;  and  of  books  there 
seemed  to  be  but  one  to  be  desired 
above  all  others  —  the  Bible  of  Forty- 
two  Lines,  printed  by  Gutenberg  at 
Mainz  in  1455;  a  book  preeminent 
not  only  because  the  "  Book  of  Books/' 
but  by  reason  of  its  being  the  first 
printed  book,  and  one,  which,  after 
nearly  half  a  thousand  years,  with  its 
noble  type,  ample  margins  and  bril- 
liant black  ink,  stands  out  as  one  of 
the  best,  if  not  the  best  example  of 
bookmaking  in  existence  to-day. 

The  writer  had  the  good  fortune  of 
seeing  a  vellum  copy  of  this  great  book 
(to  turn  the  leaves  of  which  is  at  once 
an  inspiration  and  an  aspiration),  in 
the  library  of  the  late  Robert  Hoe 
many  years  ago,  and  the  recollection 
of  it  remained  clear  and  distinct. 


A    PRINTERS      SUN    DIAL 

In  due  time,  the  desire  to  reproduce 
from  this  particular  copy  of  the  Bible 
was  expressed  to  a  fellow  member 
of  The  Grolier  Club,  Major  Emory  S. 
Turner,  of  the  Anderson  Auction  Co. 
and  permission  was  granted  to  photo- 
graph the  Bible  while  the  Hoe  Library 
was  being  catalogued  for  the  sale,  and 
so,  negatives  were  made.  These  prov- 
ing unsatisfactory,  a  second  and  third 
set  were  made.  It  was  found,  how- 
ever, after  many  attempts,  that  none 
of  the  negatives  were  susceptible  of 
successful  enlargement. 

In  the  meantime,  the  sale  had  been 
held  and  the  Bible  had  passed  into  the 
hands  of  Mr.  Henry  E.  Huntington,  at 
a  price  much  greater  than  had  ever 
before  been  paid  for  a  printed  book  — 
$50,000.  A  print  of  the  design  of  the 
Dial  was  therefore  sent  to  Mr.  Hunt- 
ington, together  with  a  letter  setting 
forth  the  dilemma,  and  asking  per- 
mission to  re-photograph  the  Bible. 
Mr.  Huntington  kindly  acceded  to  the 
request,  and  on  a  day  in  June,  1911, 
the  precious  volume  was  taken  to  the 


A    PRINTERS     SUN    DIAL 

roof  of  the  Metropolitan  Club  of  New 
York,  where,  with  the  kindly  assistance 
of  Mr.  Huntington,  the  large  size 
negatives  were  made  from  which  the 
Bible  plate  resulted,  and  by  means  of 
which  many  who  may  never  have  an 
opportunity  of  seeing  this  noble  book, 
may  see  a  faithful  reproduction  of  it 
in  brass,  even  to  the  illumination  — 
in  the  exact  size  of  the  original. 

The  form  of  the  Dial  is  that  of  a 
4 1 -degree  ellipse,  651x78!  inches.  This 
form,  as  well  as  the  unusually  large 
size  was  determined  by  the  dimensions 
of  the  Bible,  which  lies  open  at  the 
nineteenth  chapter  of  the  Book  of 
Job,  that  great  chapter  in  which  he 
speaks  of  the  immortality  of  the  soul, 
the  twenty-third  verse  of  which,  in  the 
English  translation,  reads: 

"Oh  that  my  words  were  now  written! 
oh  that  they  were  printed  in  a  book!" 

Above,  and  at  the  sides  of  the  Bible, 
are  twelve  hour-spaces  bearing  the 
marks  of  twelve  of  the  early  printers, 
so  disposed,  that  at  noon,  the  shadow 
rests  full  across  the  centre  of  the  Bible, 

10 


A    PRINTERS     SUN    DIAL 

and  passes  first  over  the  earliest  of 
all  printers'  marks  —  that  of  Fust  and 
Schoeffen 

Below  the  Bible,  in  the  lower  section 
of  the  oval,  appears  the  inscription: 

O  measure  of  time! 
Thou  merest  mite  within  the  endless 

providence  of  God 

May  thy  unerring  finger  ever  point 

To  those  who  printed  first 

the  written  word. 

The  Dial  was  planned  to  cover  only 
the  first  century  of  the  Art  of  Printing 
(1455-1555)  from  Gutenberg  to  Plan- 
tin:  Gutenberg,  who  used  no  mark, 
being  represented  by  his  famous  Bible. 

The  marks  selected  were  chosen  as 
being  the  first  to  appear  in  each  of  the 
several  countries  into  which  the  art  of 
Printing  made  its  way  at  a  very  early 
date,  or  because  of  the  distinguished 
place  attained  by  the  printer,  -either 
by  reason  of  exceptional  skill  as  a 
printer,  or  because  of  some  other  suc- 
cessful achievement.  Thus,  Fust  and 
Schoeffer's  was  the  first  German  mark; 
that  of  Hans  &  Paul  Hums  was  the 
1 1 


A  PRINTERS'  SUN  DIAL 

first  to  appear  in  Spain;  Caxton's 
was  the  first  English  mark;  and  Ger- 
ing's  mark  was  chosen  because  he  was 
the  first  printer  to  set  up  a  press  in 
Paris.  Italy,  having  been  the  first 
country  to  welcome  the  new  art,  has 
three  representatives:  Jenson,  the  first 
to  use  Roman  types;  Aldus,  the  first 
to  use  Italic  types;  and  Bernardinus 
de  Vitalibus,  who  ranked  well  with 
his  contemporaries.  England  also  has 
two  representatives  besides  Caxton; 
Wynkyn  de  Worde,  his  successor, 
and  the  St.  Albans  Printer.  The 
Netherlands  is  accorded  two  represen- 
tatives; Thierry  Martens  and  Plantin. 
And  France,  besides  Gering  and  Rem- 
bolt,  is  represented  by  Guillaume  le 
Rouge. 

Owing  to  the  variation  in  the  size 
as  well  as  the  character  of  the  marks, 
they  were  so  arranged  as  to  secure  a 
harmonious  and  well  balanced  design, 
the  chronological  order  being  disre- 
garded except  as  to  the  first  and  last. 

The  date  given  is  the  earliest  authen- 
tic date  of  each  printer. 

12 


A    PRINTERS     SUN    DIAL 

Counting  from  the  noon  hour,  the 
marks  are  arranged  in  the  following 
order: 


I.       FUST   &    SCHOEFFER,    1457 

Fust  &  Schoeffer  were  the  succes- 
sors of  Gutenberg  and  printers  of  the 
"Psalter  of  1457."  This  book,  at 
least  as  rare  as  the  Bible  of  Forty-two 
Lines,  is  the  first  book  in  which  a 
printer's  mark  appeared,  and  the  first 
book  bearing  a  printed  date.  The 
type  of  the  book  is  a  Gothic  of  a  fine, 
heavy  face  resembling  the  type  of  the 
Bible  of  Forty-two  Lines,  but  con- 
siderably larger,  as  was  necessary  in 
Psalters  when  half  a  dozen  singers 
shared  the  same  book.  The  rubrics 
are  printed  in  red,  not  painted  by 
hand.  The  large  handsome  initials 
are  printed  in  blue  and  red.  This  was 
the  first  book  to  be  so  printed,  and  the 
"registration"  of  the  colors  is  very 
accurate,  notwithstanding  the  fact 

13 


A    PRINTERS      SUN    DIAL 


that  the  impressions  were  made  on 
dampened  paper. 

The  perfection  of  type  and  press- 
work  of  this  book  are  due  to  the  great 
skill  of  Schoeffer,  who  was  an  engraver 
before  becoming  associated  with  Fust. 
His  son  Johann  asserts  that  Schoeffer 
received  his  wife,  Christina  Fust,  in 
marriage  as  a  reward  for  his  "adin- 
ventiones."  No  doubt  this  refers  to  the 
types  cut  by  Schoeffer,  one  theory  being 
that  the  types  for  both  editions  of  the 
Indulgences  which  were  instrumental  in 
bringing  on  the  Reformation  were  cut 
by  him. 


II.       BERNARDINUS  DE  VITALIBUS,    1494 

This  device  is  more  decorative  and 
more  carefully  engraved  than  most  of 
the  marks  of  the  time.  It  was  taken 
from  an  edition  of  Caesar's  Commen- 

14 


A    PRINTERS      SUN    DIAL 

taries,  printed  at  Venice  in  1517  from 
Roman  types  (similar  to  those  used 
by  Jenson).  This  is  one  of  the  early 
books  in  which  the  first  line  on  the 
title  page  is  in  very  large  type.  The 
early  books,  as  a  rule,  resembled  the 
manuscript  books,  in  that  they  were 
without  title  pages. 


III.      HANS    &    PAUL    HURUS,     1488 

This  mark  has  the  distinction  of 
being  the  first  Spanish  printer's  mark. 
The  brothers  Hurus  were  associated 
together  in  Saragossa  from  1488  un- 
til 1490,  and  it  was  in  an  edition  of 
the  "Royal  Ordinances  of  Castille/' 
printed  by  them  in  Saragossa  in  1490, 
that  the  mark  first  appeared. 

Printing  had  been  introduced  into 
Spain  (at  Valencia),  at  an  earlier  date, 
says  W.  Roberts,  editor  of  "The  Book- 

15 


A    PRINTERS     SUN    DIAL 

worm/'  —  "  The  earliest  printers  being 
Alfonso  Fernandez  de  Cordova  and 
Lambert  Palomar  (or  Palmart)  a  Ger- 
man, whose  names,  however,  do  not 
appear  on  any  publication  (according 
to  Cotton)  antecedent  to  1478."  As 
far  as  can  be  learned  from  a  careful 
search  they  had  no  mark. 


iv.     ALDUS,  1494 

Not  only  as  printer,  but  as  editor 
and  publisher,  Aldus  Manutius  stands 
preeminent  among  Italian  printers. 
His  works  are  to  be  found  in  innum- 
erable libraries  to-day,  and  his  mark 
of  the  anchor  and  dolphin,  known 
throughout  the  world,  has  been 
adopted  in  varying  form  by  many 
printers,  from  his  own  time  to  the 
present  day.  Pickering  used  with 
16 


A    PRINTERS      SUN    DIAL 

it  the  legend,  "Aldi  Anglus  Discip." 
The  latest  adaptation  of  this  mark  is 
that  used  by  Messrs.  Doubleday,  Page 
&  Co. 

Aldus's  attainments  were  such  that 
he  gained  the  friendship  of  the  ablest 
scholars  of  his  time,  who  aided  him 
in  his  work;  and  he  also  numbered 
among  his  friends  Jean  Grolier  —  one 
of  the  greatest  patrons  of  printing  and 
binding. 

It  was  shortly  before  1500  that, 
realizing  the  need  for  less  expensive 
books,  Aldus  determined  to  reduce 
their  size.  This  necessitated  the  cut- 
ting of  smaller  types,  and  in  making 
this  change  in  the  form  of  his  books, 
he  determined  to  use  a  different  form 
of  letter.  The  model  for  this  new  and 
distinctive  style  of  type,  which  in 
time  came  to  be  known  as  Italic,  was 
found  in  the  inclined  and  beautifully 
formed  characters  of  the  handwriting 
of  the  poet  Petrarch. 

Although  Aldus  began  printing  in 
1494,  his  mark  was  not  adopted  until 
1 502.  Many  authorities  claim  that  the 


A    PRINTERS     SUN    DIAL 

mark  first  appeared  in  the  "Statius" 
of  1502,  the  imprint  of  which  reads: 

VENETIIS    IN    AEDIBUS 

ALDE    MENDE    AV 

GUSTO  M  DII 

Aldus  died  in  1515,  in  comparative 
poverty.  Mr.  De  Vinne  says  of  him, 
"  he  had  the  money-getting  but  not  the 
money-keeping  faculty.  Whether  he 
sold  folios  at  high  price  or  octavos  at 
low  price,  the  result  was  the  same.  Di- 
rectly or  indirectly,  he  gave  to  the  book 
buyer  quite  as  much  as  he  received/' 

On  the  death  of  Aldus,  "  as  his  son 
Paulus  was  only  three  years  of  age, 
Andrea  Torresano,  a  distinguished 
printer  of  Asola,  into  whose  possession 
the  'plant'  of  Jenson  passed  in  1481, 
and  whose  daughter  married  the  first 
Aldus,  carried  on  the  business.  In 
1 540  Paulus  Manutius  took  over  the 
entire  charge  of  the  business  founded 
by  his  father/'  Paulus  Manutius  died 
in  1574,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son, 
known  as  "Aldus  the  younger/' 

"In  Aldus  Manutius  the  Younger 
ended  a  family,  the  honor  of  literature 
18 


A    PRINTERS     SUN    DIAL 

and  typography,  whose  fame  cannot 
die  so  long  as  a  single  one  of  the 
volumes  printed  by  them  during  a 
whole  century  continue  to  exist/' 


v.    JENSON,   1471 

One  of  the  most  noted  of  the  Vene- 
tian printers,  and  the  first  to  use  Ro- 
man types  was  Nicolas  Jenson. 

Of  the  Jenson  mark,  Mr.  Ferd. 
Ongania  an  authority,  says:  "The 
first  typographic  mark  appeared  in 
the  editions  made  in  1481,  by  a  typo- 
graphic society  established  in  Venice 
during  the  later  years  of  the  life  of 
Jenson  (who  died  in  September  11480) 
under  the  direction  of  John  of  Cologne: 
It  had  for  its  chief  printer,  Jean  Her- 
bort  de  Seligenstadt.  Jenson  was  a 
member  and  his  name  figured  in  the 
colophons  even  after  his  death/' 
19 


A    PRINTERS      SUN    DIAL 

The  Jenson  mark,  a  sphere  surmoun- 
ted by  a  double  cross,  which  has  been 
interpreted  to  symbolize  the  world  and 
its  Christian  rulership,  was  often  used 
throughout  Italy  subsequent  to  its 
adoption  by  him.  The  writer  has,  in 
fact,  found  upward  of  seventy  varia- 
tions of  the  Jenson  mark  which  were 
used  in  Italy  between  1481  and  1525  — 
in  many  cases  the  initials  of  the  printer 
appearing  within  the  circle. 

The  double  cross  is  also  found  in 
some  Spanish,  French  and  other  marks. 


vi.    CAXTON,  1477 

William  Caxton,  the  first  and  great- 
est of  the  English  printers  exercised 
his  art  at  Westminster,  1477-1490- 
He  was  born  about  1422,  was  appren- 
ticed to  a  merchant  and  afterward 
went  to  Bruges. 


A    PRINTERS     SUN    DIAL 

From  a  little  volume  entitled  "The 
Story  of  Books/'  by  Gertrude  Burford 
Rawlings,  1  quote:  "Where  Caxton 
gained  his  knowledge  of  printing  is  a 
matter  of  dispute.  Mr.  Blades  holds 
that  he  was  taught  by  Colard  Man- 
sion, the  first  printer  of  Bruges,  others 
that  he  learned  at  Cologne/' 

The  first  book  printed  by  Caxton, 
probably  at  Bruges,  is  "The  Recuyell 
of  the  Historyes  of  Troye,"  about 
1475,  and  it  is  the  first  book  printed 
in  the  English  language,  and  was  fol- 
lowed by  "Ye  Game  and  Playe  of 
Chesse/'  now  thought  to  have  been 
printed  at  Bruges. 

Caxton  returned  to  England  about 
1476  and  set  up  a  press  at  West- 
minster. 

Again  I  quote  from  the  "Story  of 
Books"  —  "It  has  been  asserted  that 
he  worked  in  the  scriptorium,  but  it 
is  not  known  that  Westminster  ever 
had  a  scriptorium.  Others  have 
thought  that  he  printed  in  some  other 
part  of  the  Abbey.  His  office,  how- 
ever, was  situated  in  the  Almonry 
21 


A    PRINTERS     SUN    DIAL 

in  the  Abbey  Precincts,  and  was  called 
the  Red  Pale,  but  it  is  now  impossible 
to  identify  the  place  where  it  stood. 

"In  1477  Caxton  produced  'The 
Dictes  or  Sayengis  of  the  Philos- 
ophers/ the  first  book,  so  far  as  is 
known,  ever  printed  in  England. 

"  Speaking  of  his  boldness  in  under- 
taking the  work,  he  refers  to  the 
'symplenes  and  vnperfightness  that 
I  had  in  both  langages,  that  is  to 
wete  in  frenshe  and  in  englissh,  for 
in  france  was  I  neuer,  and  was  born 
and  lerned  myn  englissh  in  kente  in 
the  weeld  where  1  doubte  not  is 
spoken  as  brode  and  rude  englissh 
as  is  in  ony  place  of  england/" 

Although  Caxton  began  to  print 
at  Westminster  in  1477,  it  was  not 
until  some  years  later  that  he  used  a 
mark.  Some  authorities  state  that 
it  first  appeared  in  1487.  Roberts, 
however,  claims  that  it  was  first  used 
about  Christmas  1489,  in  the  second 
folio  edition  of  the  Sarum  "Ordinale," 
in  which  it  appeared  close  to  the  be- 
ginning of  the  volume,  but  in  subse- 

22 


A    PRINTERS      SUN    DIAL    . 

quent  books  it  is  found  at  the  end. 
The  exact  meaning  of  the  monogram 
in  Caxton's  mark  is  not  known,  but 
it  is  generally  believed  to  stand  for 
W.  C.  74.  Blades  believes  that  it 
refers  to  the  date  of  printing  of  "  The 
Recuyell  of  the  Historyes  of  Troye" 
-  the  first  product  of  Caxton's  typo- 
graphical skill. 


VII.      WYNKYN   DE  WORDE,    149! 

On  the  death  of  Caxton  in  1491, 
Wynkyn  de  Worde,  a  native  of  Hol- 
land and  for  a  long  time  Caxton's 
assistant,  succeeded  him  and  continued 
to  print  at  Westminster,  and  from  his 
presses  came  many  books  which  were 
noted  for  their  typographical  excel- 
lence. 

De  Worde  printed  among  other 
works  an  edition  of  the  "Golden 


A    PRINTERS     SUN    DIAL 

Legend"  the  vellum  edition  of  which 
printed  by  William  Morris  is  one  of 
the  noblest  examples  of  nineteenth 
century  printing. 


VIII.      THE    ST.    ALBANS    PRINTER,    1480 

In  his  most  interesting  introduc- 
tion to  "The  Treatyse  of  Fysshynge 
with  an  Angle.  From  the  Book  of  St. 
Albans/'  Mr.  William  Loring  Andrews 
writes:  "the  earliest  printed  Treatise 
in  English  on  fishing  with  an  Angle,  is 
ascribed  unhesitatingly  by  Sir  John 
Hawkins,  the  best  known  of  Walton- 
ian  editors  and  commentators,  to  a 
fair  lady,  Dame  Juliana  Berners, 
Bernes  or  Barnes,  Prioress  in  the 
middle  of  the  fifteenth  century,  of  the 
Nunnery  of  Sopwell  near  St.  Albans, 
a  lady  of  noble  family  and  celebrated 
for  her  beauty,  wit,  and  learning,  as 
24 


A    PRINTERS     SUN    DIAL 


befits  a  heroine  of  mediaeval  story/' 
It  is  the  printing  of  the  "Book  of  St. 
Albans"  which  has  made  famous  its 
printer,  who  is  referred  to  by  Wynkyn 
de  Worde  as  a  "Schoolmaster  of  St. 
Alban."  The  first  edition  containing 
treatises  on  Hawking,  Hunting  and 
Coat-Armor  was  printed  at  St.  Albans 
in  1486.  The  second  edition,  printed 
by  Wynkyn  de  Worde  at  Westminster 
in  1496,  contained,  also,  'The  Treatyse 
of  Fysshynge  with  an  Angle/' 


IX.       THIERRY    MARTENS,     1474 

Martens,  referred  to  as  Erasmus's 
printer  appears  first  as  having  been 
associated  with  John  of  Paderborn, 
in  Alost,  a  town  near  Brussels  in  1473. 
He  set  up  his  first  press  in  Alost  in 
1474,  and  continued  to  print  there 
for  about  two  years.  In  1477  he 

25 


A    PRINTERS     SUN    DIAL 

went  to  Spain  where  the  earliest  royal 
decree  known  to  exist  regarding  the 
art  of  printing  in  Europe,  was  issued 
for  his  benefit  by  Ferdinand  and  Isa- 
bella, under  date  of  December  25,  1477. 
By  this  trip  to  Spain,  Martens  be- 
came one  of  the  founders  of  the  early 
Spanish  press.  About  ten  years  later, 
however,  he  is  back  in  Alost  where  he 
set  up  his  second  press  in  1487.  In 
1493  he  set  up  a  press  in  Antwerp,  and 
in  1498  set  up  his  fourth  and  last 
press  at  Louvain.  The  mark  of  Mar- 
tens (a  double  anchor)  has  seemingly 
never  been  imitated. 


X.      GUILLAUME    LE    ROUGE,     1489 

Probably  the  son  of  Pierre  le  Rouge, 

Guillaume  le  Rouge,  not  unnaturally 

practised    the    same    art.     His    first 

press  was  at  Chablis,  where  in  1489, 

26 


A    PRINTERS     SUN    DIAL 

ne  printed  "  Les  Expositions  des  Evan- 
giles  en  Fran^ais/'  from  a  copy  of 
which  the  mark  was  reproduced. 
Three  years  later,  he  printed  at 
Troyes,  and  finally  established  himself 
at  Paris. 


XI.      GERING    &    REMBOLT,    1470 

The  first  book  printed  in  Paris  was 
printed  by  Ulrich  Gering,  Michel  Fri- 
burger  and  Martin  Krantz,  three  Ger- 
mans who  had  been  brought  to  Paris 
from  Mainz  by  Jean  Heinlin  de  La 
Pierre  and  Guillaume  Fichet,  two  pro- 
fessors of  the  Sorbonne,  where  the  first 
press  was  set  up.  A  second  press  was 
set  up  at  the  "Soleil  d'Or"  in  1473. 
Gering  was  left  alone  in  1477.  In 
1494  he  formed  a  partnership  with 
Bertold  Rembolt  and  it  was  during 
this  partnership  (which  continued 

27 


A    PRINTERS     SUN    DIAL 

until  1509),  that  they  used  the  mark 
—  which  had  formerly  been  used  by 
Rembolt  alone.  The  mark  was  re- 
produced from  a  copy  of  "  Missale  ad 
usum  Ecclesiae  Parisiensis"  printed 
by  Gering  and  Rembolt  in  1497,  for 
Simon  Vostre,  a  noted  fifteenth  cen- 
tury publisher  in  Paris. 


xn.     PLANTIN,   1555 

Closing  the  century  we  come  to 
Christopher  Plantin  who  began  his 
work  in  Antwerp  in  1555.  Plantin  is 
justly  esteemed  one  of  the  greatest  of 
the  early  printers.  He  was  great  in 
his  conceptions;  great  in  his  work  and 
great  in  being  the  only  one  of  the  early 
printers,  whose  "  office "  with  its 
matrices  and  molds,  and  types,  and 
its  woodcuts,  and  copperplates,  and 
presses,  continued  in  his  family  in  an 
28 


A    PRINTERS     SUN    DIAL 

unbroken  line  of  descent  for  more  than 
a  quarter-thousand  years,  —  and  now, 
as  a  museum,  stands  as  one  of  the 
greatest  attractions  of  Antwerp. 
Plantin  planned  and  produced  the 
Polyglot  Bible  —  a  great  folio  in  eight 
volumes  printed  in  Hebrew,  Chaldaic, 
Greek,  and  Latin  —  in  fine,  double- 
column  pages.  Although  brought  to 
the  verge  of  ruin  by  this  great  project, 
the  monopoly  of  the  printing  of  the 
service  books  and  Bibles  for  the  use  of 
the  Roman  Church  in  Spain  and  its 
dependencies,  in  time  restored  his  for- 
tunes, and  maintained  the  fortunes  of 
his  successors  for  many  years. 

That  Plantin  understood  all  the 
difficulties  of  his  art  and  the  qualities 
of  mind  and  heart  needed  for  its  suc- 
cessful practice  is  evidenced  by  the 
motto  on  his  mark  "Labore  et  Con- 
stantia."  That  he  had  a  fine  philos- 
ophy of  life  and  was  a  poet  as  well,  is 
proven  by  his  sonnet  "The  Happiness 
of  this  World"  a  copy  of  which  in 
French,  printed  from  the  original  type, 
on  Plantin's  press,  was  presented  to 
29 


A    PRINTERS     SUN    DIAL 

the  writer  by  Mr.  F.  N.  Doubleday, 
on  his  return  from  a  trip  to  Amsterdam 
in  1911,  during  which  he  visited  the 
Plantin  Museum. 

THE    CONSTRUCTION 

The  pedestal  of  the  Dial,  designed 
by  Mr.  John  H.  Petit,  the  architect 
of  the  Country  Life  Press,  is  of  con- 
crete, carried  three  and  a  half  feet 
below  the  surface  of  the  ground,  so  as 
to  be  below  the  frost  line.  The  rim 
of  the  dial  is  of  brass,  cast  by  the  John 
Williams  Company,  Inc.  To  those 
who  have  never  seen  brass  in  process  of 
casting,  it  is  difficult  to  describe  the 
wonderful  beauty  and  yet  delicacy  of 
the  colors  which  fairly  stream  from  the 
melting-pot  as  the  molten  metal  is 
poured  into  the  mold.  A  recollection 
of  it  is  retained  by  the  writer,  however, 
in  the  form  of  two  gleaming  knops  of 
brass  broken  from  the  tops  of  the 
"risers"  in  the  mold  in  which  that 
section  of  the  rim  which  bears  the 
words  "The  World's  Work"  was  cast. 
Within  the  rim  of  brass  an  iron  bottom 

3° 


A    PRINTERS     SUN    DIAL 

is  securely  fastened,  and,  by  means  of 
"lugs"  this  iron  bottom  is  anchored 
into  the  pedestal  so  that  the  Dial  from 
its  face  to  the  bottom  of  the  pedestal  is 
one  solid  construction. 

The  face  of  the  Dial  is  of  cement  with 
inlays  of  brass;  each  fastened  by 
"lugs"  and  screws  to  the  iron  bottom 
of  the  rim,  over  which  there  is  a  layer 
of  rough  cement  three  inches  in  thick- 
ness faced  with  white  cement,  in  which 
the  brasses  are  inserted;  these  brasses 
were  made  by  the  engraving  depart- 
ment of  the  Country  Life  Press.  The 
lettering  of  the  Bible  is  filled  in  with  a 
composition  said,  by  Mr.  de  Kosenko, 
of  the  Sterling  Bronze  Co.,  to  be  the 
same  as  that  used  in  the  memorial 
brasses  in  Westminster  Abbey,  and 
burnt  in,  and  also  burnt  a  second 
time  after  the  retouches  were  made 
upon  the  capitals. 


It  is  hoped  that  those  who  come  to 
view  this  Dial  may  come  but  to  view 
and  not  to  harm,  that  the  Bible  which 


A    PRINTERS      SUN    DIAL 

lies  open  upon  its  face  may  remain 
through  the  years  to  come,  as  it 
ever  has  been  since  the  invention  of 
the  Art  of  Printing  —  an  open  book 
for  the  edification  of  the  people,  and 
the  greatest  of  forces  for  the  regenera- 
tion of  the  world. 

WALTER  GILLISS. 


. 


9     1966 


